All candidates registering for field experience courses, other than Clinical Practice, will note the following:

1. The teacher candidate must show verification before entering any field experience of a negative TB Test. Ohio State Law requires evidence of a negative TB Test before entering field experience. The University of Rio Grande Health Services will administer TB Tests for enrolled candidates. Candidate must have a current and clear BCI.2. Candidates will be placed in a cooperating school by the Coordinator of Field Experience. Failure to secure proper placement through the Coordinator of Field Experience will result in the candidate being removed from the placement and/or a drop of two letter grades in the course by the course instructor. Candidate requests for placements will be considered, but the placement is made by the Coordinator of Field Experience and the school district administrators.3. Candidates must complete an application for each field placement at the time of class registration. In many school districts, field placement requests are sent to area administrators who must approve the requests and often must send the requests to the Board of Education for the district. This process is time consuming. If a candidate does not complete an application for field placement until the second week of the semester, the Coordinator of Field Experience may not be able to find a placement for the student.4. Each field experience will have an evaluation sheet completed by the classroom teacher. These comments are considered when the university instructor issues the course grade. Concerns from the Coordinator of Field Experience, Teacher Education faculty, classroom teacher, or principal may result in the candidate appearing before the Faculty Advisory Council for the Teacher Education Program. The Council may outline a program of improvement or request the candidate be removed from the Teacher Education Program.5. The teacher candidate will comply with the dress code and other responsibilities as outlined in the School of Education Field Experience Handbook. The teacher candidate will also comply with field requirements as outlined in course syllabi.6. A teacher candidate may be removed from a field experience by the Coordinator of Field Experience. Procedures for removal are outlined in the Field Experience Handbook.7. The field experience is a section of the course grade. An incomplete in a field experience will result in an incomplete or "F" in the course grade.

Partnership

The Teacher Education Program participates in a partnership program with local school districts. If a teacher candidate is enrolled in a course that has the course field experience with a partnership school, part of the course is taught on campus and part of the course is conducted on site with a partnership school.

Community Service

Candidates are encouraged to participate in community service. With permission from the course instructor, part of the field experience hours in the course may be completed by participation in a community service project. The candidate must justify that the project will be a learning experience and the total hours will not exceed 1/4 of the total field experience hours required for the course.

Multi-culture Experiences

The teaching of multi-culture education is threaded through the Professional Education courses. In addition, a course is designed to focus on multi-culture: EDU 30303 Multicultural Relations. Teacher candidates are also required to enroll in EDU 11601 Field Experience: Cultural Diverse Setting. During this course, the candidate will meet with the Coordinator of Field Experience and will decide on a setting for the experience which includes working with students from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds. This placement is time and place sensitive.

Junior Field Experience

The final field experience for teacher candidates is EDU 39103 Junior Field Experience. Candidates must complete an application process prior to admission to Junior Field Experience. The application is submitted to Director of Clinical Practice and placement is handled by the Field Experience Coordinator. In addition to completing the application, the teacher candidate must adhere to the following standards:

A GPA of 2.5 in General Studies courses and Curriculum Content courses.

A GPA of 2.75 in Professional Education courses.

A GPA of 3.0 in Methods courses (with no grade below a "C".)

No final course grade of Incomplete or he letter grade of "F" on transcript.

Submit two letters of recommendation from faculty members (forms are included in the application). One recommendation must be from an Education faculty member. The second recommendation must be from a Licensure Area faculty member.

Ohio State law requires evidence of a negative TB test before teaching. The candidate must have verification before entering Junior Field Experience. Candidate must have a current and clear BCI.

Completion of a majority of Methods Courses, EXCEPT AYA majors who must complete both methods courses. (Form is included in the application.).

EDU 33302 Integrating Educational Technology into the Curriculum must be taken concurrently with EDU 39103 Junior Field Experience.

Clinical Practice

The capstone activity for the University of Rio Grande Teacher Education Program is twelve weeks of clinical practice. The teacher candidate must work with a master teacher in the classroom for the full day during this experience and must remain after school for the same amount of time that is required for the master teacher. The candidate will be assessed by the master teacher and the University of Rio Grande college supervisor using an assessment based on Specialized Professional Association Standards and URG Bunce School of Education standards, and Ohio Standards for the Teaching Profession.

Admission to Clinical Practice

Teacher candidates must complete an application process, which is accompanied by a résumé and a degree audit. The Director of Clinical Practice is responsible for accepting candidates into clinical practice ad securing placement sites.

All candidates placed into Clinical Practice must adhere to the following performance standards:

An overall GPA of at least 2.5; a GPA of at least 2.75 in licensure area(s).

No final course grade of Incomplete or the letter grade of "F" on transcript.

Grade of "C" or better in all Curriculum Content and Professional Education Courses.

Ohio State law requires evidence of a negative TB test before teaching. The candidate must have verification before entering clinical practice or any field experience.

When the candidate enrolls for clinical practice, he/she must also enroll in EDU 48902 Portfolio.

Prior approval by the Head of Teacher Education is required before the student may enroll in any course during student teaching except, EDU 44403 Reading Assessment & Development or EDU 48902 Portfolio.

Have a clear BCI ad FBI report on file with URG Bunce School of Education office.

Clinical Practice Experience

During the clinical practice experience the teacher candidate will be expected to adhere to the following performance standards:

1. Orientation must be attended by the teacher candidate. During orientation the teacher candidate will be given a Clinical Practice Handbook.2. The teacher candidate must attend clinical practice seminars. The dates, times, and places will be identified in the clinical practice packet which the teacher candidate will receive during orientation.3. The teacher candidate must follow policies outlined in the Clinical Practice Handbook.4. The teacher candidate must follow policies outlined in the School Handbook for the placement school. The teacher candidate is expected to follow the master teacher’s assigned schedule including after school duties.5. The teacher candidate must receive the letter grade of "B" or better in student teaching. A grade lower than "B" indicates the performance was below average and was not accepted.6. Clinical Practice experience must be repeated in a different placement if a letter grade lower than "B" is received in clinical practice.7. A grade of "B" or better is required for licensure.

Clinical Practice Seminars

During the twelve weeks of clinical practice, all teacher candidates, including those teaching out of district, are required to attend seminars on campus. The seminar grade is built into the clinical practice grade. Failure to attend seminars lowers the candidate’s final grade in clinical practice.

Action Research Project

Each candidate in Clinical Practice must undertake an EdTPA during the Student Teaching Experience. The results must be presented in PowerPoint format to a public forum at the end of the experience. Candidates who do not meet the standards for he EdTPA will have their fnal Clinical Practice grade lowered one letter.

Teacher Licensure

The Head of Teacher Education at the University of Rio Grande recommends teacher candidates to the Ohio Board of Education for teacher licensure. The following standards must be met before application for teacher license is recommended:

1. An overall GPA of at least 2.5; a GPA of at least 2.5 in Professional Education courses; a GPA of at least 2.75 in licensure area(s).2. No final course grade of Incomplete or the letter grade of "F" on transcript.3. A letter grade of "C" or better in all methods courses.*4. A letter grade of "B" or better in student teaching.5. A final audit which confirms successful completion of all course work required for the requested teacher license area(s).6. Passing score on all required Ohio Assessments for Educators (Pearson) tests.7. No grades below "C" in Curriculum Content or Professional Education Courses.8. A report of a fingerprint check for criminal background check and FBI Check. No person may receive a teacher license who has been convicted of a felony. University of Rio Grande Bookstore has electronic fingerprinting that is available to students.

Institutional Report Card: Title II

In April of each year, the University of Rio Grande issues an Institutional Report on the Quality of Teacher Education beginning with the 2000-2001 academic year. This report contains both summary information and data concerning the Ohio Assessments for Educators (Pearson) tests passing rates of Teacher Education program completers of the previous academic year. Both aggregate and individual test data are reported. The actual report may be located as an insert in the University of Rio Grande Catalog, and in other Teacher Education publications. The Institutional Report on the Quality of Teacher Education is a federal mandate under the Higher Education Act of 1998: Title II, Section 207, which requires public reporting on the success of institutions in preparing teachers and is available on the ODE website.